Research Catalog
Street of crocodiles
- Title
- Street of crocodiles [motion picture] / Keith M. Griffiths; a British Film Institute Production in association with Channel 4 Television.
- Publication
- New York : First Run/Icarus, 1986.
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1 Item
| Status | Vol/Date | Format | Access | Call Number | Item Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Performing Arts Research Collections to submit a request in person. | C.1 REEL 1 OF 1 | Film, Slide, etc. | By appointment only | M16 3885 S | Performing Arts Research Collections - Reserve Film and Video |
Details
- Additional Authors
- Description
- 1 film reel (21 min.) : sd., b&w/col.; 16 mm.
- Summary
- A decrepit caretaker enters a museum and, by accident or design, lets a drop of saliva fall into the eyepiece of an ancient peep-show kinetoscope. Inside the aged projector, mechanisms are activated, wires are drawn by pulleys, hatches open. The puppet figure of a man is conjured into motion. The man severs the wires from which he hangs and begins an exploration of the "Street of Crocodiles," a suite of abandoned rooms where screws turn of their own volition at his approach. In a strange workshop, he observes robotic figures. He is harassed by a small boy and eventually finds himself dissected, remodelled, and re-clothed. The Quays utilize three-dimensional puppet animation and use the techniques of expressionism and surrealism to capture the echo of Central Europe's wars and the repression of the ruling classes as evoked in a quote from the Schulz story: "In that city of cheap human material, no instincts can flourish, no dark or unusual passions can be aroused. The Street of Crocodiles was a concession of our city to modernity and metropolitan corruption. The misfortune of that area is that nothing ever succeeds there, nothing can ever reach a definite conclusion. Obviously, we were unable to afford anything better than a cardboard imitation, a photo-montage cutout from last year's mouldering newspaper."
- Subjects
- Note
- Based on a story by Bruno Schultz.
- Credits (note)
- Directors, Brothers Quay (Stephen and Timothy Quay); music, Leszak Jankowski.
- Call Number
- M16 3885 S
- Title
- Street of crocodiles [motion picture] / Keith M. Griffiths; a British Film Institute Production in association with Channel 4 Television.
- Imprint
- New York : First Run/Icarus, 1986.
- Credits
- Directors, Brothers Quay (Stephen and Timothy Quay); music, Leszak Jankowski.
- Added Author
- Quay, Stephen.Quay, Timothy.Schulz, Bruno, 1892-1942. Sklepy cynamonowe. English.Brothers Quay.British Film Institute.
- Research Call Number
- M16 3885 S